Confessions and Craziness
As a Single Mom, I confess to using the TV as an after school baby sitter, a post-bath entertainer, and a weekend friend. How else could I prepare dinner or find any personal reading time??? Having SpongeBob SquarePants singing his jellyfish songs to keep my energetic 5-year old entertained has been a refuge.
Last week, when I read about No Screen Week, I got a twinge of excitement. Perhaps it was the challenge of it all. Maybe it was the daredevil-likeness. Could be pure Craziness.
Possibly the excitement was the premonition of A New Beginning. Kind of like when you are about to do a massive body cleanse - you know it will be the challenge of a lifetime, but instinctively you can feel that it will jump-start you into a whole new You.
New Beginning
What kind of new beginning am I looking for? As a single-working-entrepreneurial-iPhone addicted-personal growth junkie-mom, I have rarely found/made time to BE WITH my child...for long periods of time. Simple things such as playing games, doing PreK "after school activities" (a.k.a. Homework), regularly reading bedtime books....all seemed to be just out of my reach. GUILT, written all over my inner self-consciousness. Call it circumstantial or selfishness, I am aware of the many things I have not been able to do with my son.
Survival (clean, safe, well-nourished)...Yes. Thriving (art projects, day trips, organized baseball) ...No. Not to the extent that I would ideally choose with my one and only child. High expectations or realistic expectations, I don't quite know. But I won't know if I don't give it a try!
So, this is an opportunity to turn off the tube, force myself to come up with alternatives to TV/Nintendo DS, and open up to new possibilities for one-on-one time connecting with my son.
Pre-No-Screen-Week
FIRST, I had to "sell" my son on the idea. I was determined not to have this be an anarchy, so I needed to sell him on the benefits...to him. I know that he loves time with his mommy, so the more I could present my case for: no TV = more time with Mommy, the better.
"Guess what next week is??", I enthusiastically asked in the car on the way home from PreK last week.
"What!", Noah wondered.
"It's No Screen week... do you know what that means?", I continued, gaining involvement.
"No!", he declared.
"It's a week where we spend time together playing games, reading, coloring, and doing fun stuff together...instead of watching TV. We get to have a whole week of no TV, no Nintendo, and no iPhone games. Isn't that cool!" I tried my best to be as excited and enthusiastic as possible. Knowing that this would be as hard for Mom as it was for Child, I was actually selling myself in the process!
Ultimate Agreement
Although Noah's initial reaction wasn't as Positive and Enthusiastic as I had hoped ("That's not a good idea, Mommy," is how he replied)....he eventually bought into the idea as I talked about how challenging it would be. "I don't know if we can do it?", I lamented out loud. "Yes we can Mommy!" was the exact response I was hoping for!
Day #1
Today is Tuesday. I am about to pick up Noah from PreK. That means that we have had one evening's opportunity to simply ignore the Television. And, I am proud to say, we were successful!
My strategy: Noah helps with dinner and/or plays on the back patio. Both options lead to more work ultimately (messiness in the kitchen/potential dirt from playing in dirt), but at least no TV is involved. Noah decides to help make dinner. And what a trooper he is. We explore the freezer and fridge. We decide what meal to prepare. We microwave nearly everything!
The Result: We eat dinner at the dining room table; Noah eats more greens than usual (my guess is because he made his own salad); and Noah cleans up the kitchen floor while I do dishes. Success!
Next up: 1.) A favorite project from my childhood: silly food mixtures. Noah had a blast mixing and tasting a concoction of soda, water, milk, ketchup, chocolate syrup, and vanilla creamer. 2.) "After school activity", as it is called. (I have never ever heard of having Homework in PreK, but who am I to judge the evolution of education.) Find 3 things in the living room that can be recycled or reused and draw a picture of them. After 20 minutes, homework complete. Time for bath, books, and bed.
Speaking of bath, books, and bed, if I don't head to pick up Noah at PreK Afterschool, I'll be paying a pretty penny to the Sunshine House for being late.
Here ends Day Number One of No Screen Week. I'll keep you posted :-) on how days Two through Seven go!
